Oklahoma candidate for office posts on Facebook about death penalty for gays, cites old testament

8:31 AM, Jun 11, 2014

7:23 PM, Jun 11, 2014

Courtesy AskforEsk.com

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MOORE, Okla. – A candidate for Oklahoma office is making waves for his views some are calling extreme.

Scott Esk is running for House District 91 state representative. On his website, he describes himself as a conservative who wants to apply biblical principles to Oklahoma law.

“This is the first time I’ve ever come across an Oklahoman with this kind of fringe attitude," said Rob Morris, editor of the Moore Monthly magazine and the MooreDaily.com.

Morris was researching political candidates when a friend alerted him to Esk.

“This guy posted on Facebook that homosexuals should be stoned to death," said Morris. "My first response was you’re nuts, nobody would be stupid enough to do that.”

But then Morris says he found the posts from last summer on Facebook.

At the time, Esk commented on a story about the pope saying “Who am I to judge?” on homosexuality. Esk posted old testament scripture that referred to homosexuality being punished.

Another user asked for clarification: “So just to be clear, you think we should execute homosexuals (presumably by stoning)?”

In response, Esk posted, “I think we would be totally in the right to do it. That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”

“What I will tell you right now is that was done in the old testament under a law that came directly from God," said Esk. "And in that time, it was totally just, it came directly from God. I have no plans to, you know, reinstitute that in Oklahoma law. I do have some very huge moral misgivings about those kinds of sins.”

Morris said, “Even people that don’t agree with things like gay marriage, they, nobody wants the death penalty for gays. I mean that’s the most asinine thing.”

Morris says he feels voters need to know about Esk’s extreme views before casting their votes.

Oklahoma City NBC station, KFOR, tried repeatedly to contact Esk for comment on this story but he never returned their messages.

----------

Information from KFOR.com

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.